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The Competition Commission and statutory audit – a lot of sense and sensibility – part 2

Our previous post discussed three of the seven remedies that the competition commission proposed as part of their ruling around statutory audit rotation. In this post, part two of this mini-series, Proxima's Richard James and Guy Strafford will look at the remaining four remedies and some key questions finance / procurement teams and audit committees should be asking when tendering this high profile service.

The Competition Commission and statutory audit – a lot of sense and sensibility – part 1

The verdict is in, judgement is pronounced.

The Competition Commission (CC) has delivered its final ruling on the market for statutory audit services in the UK, amending its remedies from the provisional ruling announced a couple of months back (here are our comments from July) and the reaction from the industry is generally positive.

Spend Matters UK/Europe: The Competition Commission and Auditors – shaking up the market or just stirring?

Mandatory audit rotation – a sourcing challenge

So, after months of deliberation and consultation, the Competition Commission published its provisional decision on the remedies relating to the market for statutory audit services. But will this really achieve the CCs laudable objectives to improve quality and broaden the competitive market for statutory audit?

With so much of your business activity being done by people not on your payroll, who’s controlling the talent?

Audit tendering may not turn out as hoped without some market change

The FRC and Competition Commission are causing change in the audit market, and when combined with pressure from the corporate governance teams of the largest investors, there is now real impetus for change.

Campaignlive.co.uk: Morrisons calls £73m ad review

How to avoid value-erosion and cost-leakage in Financial Services

Cost management and 'cost-out' is critical for any business. As such, cost as a metric will always be near the top of the agenda for any business assessing the performance of their procurement or sourcing function. However, driving costs out of a business is not a one-off project - it's a continuous, evolving process.

Who is the customer of the audit?

There are some strict rules about the scope and execution of statutory audit. Things undoubtedly got tougher for the profession in the wake of the Enron scandal that brought down its auditor, Andersen. But interestingly, while there are now stricter rules around auditor independence from management and limits on non-audit services an auditor can provide, many of the issues that scarred audit then still linger.

Audit: above suspicion

The world of audit is in a state of flux. For a start, the long-standing grumbles about the Big Four (Deloitte, E&Y, KPMG and PwC) dominance in the world of corporate auditing has resulted in debates about regulatory reform domestically and in Europe. Even the Competition Commission is getting in on the act.

Proxima responds to the Competition Commission’s audit market report

How the 'shareholder spring' should evolve

Following on from a previous post on this topic, the Shareholder Spring should turn its attention away from executive pay, and towards an area that has a far greater opportunity to improve profitability and shareholder returns - third party costs.

10 reasons why gain share fee models should be avoided

Gain share fee models (otherwise known as contingency fee models, or 'no-win no-fee') initially appear attractive to organizations when seeking to engage with a procurement services provider (PSP). However, they are frequently the road to ruin. A closer inspection of such fee models shows why.